 Hi, my name is Danny and welcome to Esoteric Moment. Today I am talking to you about allergies and how you can still have a spiritual practice that is outside despite having allergies. Every one of my family has really intense allergies. I've had reactions that range from like typical sneezing hay fever type of things to bloody noses that last for hours to almost dying and not being able to breathe to pertussis that vaccine for whooping cough. I've had hives from hops and amoxicillin. I really covered a wide range of allergic reaction. For me, the worst allergy season is in the spring. Tree pollen and particular maples just kill me. Migraines, difficulty breathing, I am all around very bitchy in this time because I don't feel good. At the same time at spring, I want to accomplish all these projects. I want to get outside and enjoy the warm weather. So there's a bit of a dilemma there in how do I keep healthy and my body from overreacting to the allergens while still enjoying the outdoors and still participating in my spiritual work outside. So today I wanted to share a few tips with you in hopes that anyone else who's struggling with that dilemma between allergies and doing a pagan or spiritual work outside, how do we make that all work? So the first point is definitely to observe. You need to observe your body and you need to observe the environment, keeping a journal either in your phone, on paper, recording what symptoms you have and when they happen, the severity of it can really help you correlate that to other resources that tell you what pollen is in the air that day, what pollutants are in your area and you can do that online through different websites. WonderGround.com has a daily like pollen count which isn't super specific but does just give you an idea for like how reactive the air might be to you. There are also plenty of books and resources on like plants and how those react to different times of the year. So observe your body, document it and then do some research into what is actually causing that reaction in your environment. My second point is to drink plenty of water. Of course we hear this all the time everywhere but it's really important when you're dealing with issues of inflammation like allergies to make sure that your body isn't overreacting to other stresses. Just do your best to get enough sleep, drink water, those basics. My third point is to use a nutty pot. Now, this is a little ceramic pot that you put warm water in and a quarter teaspoon of salt and then you pour it through one side of your nose and it comes out the other. It sounds really weird. It is really weird the first few times but I can't tell you how amazing this has been. I wish my parents had taught me how to do this when I was little. I use a nutty pot once a week, year round but when the allergy season is really upon me, tree pollen in particular, I do it two or three times a week. And what that does is it just clears all of those allergens and pollutants out of your sinuses and it helps your body have less to react to. My fourth point is to use a bit of exposure therapy. If you have severe life-threatening allergies, exposure therapy should only be undergone with direct medical supervision. So keep that in mind, you know your allergies. But if you have basic seasonal allergies because of pollen, hay fever, et cetera, this is something you can do on your own and that means just walk outside every day for a little bit. We live easily in the world where our buildings are temperature and air controlled. We have cars that filter our air. We have homes that do the same thing. You live in a surprisingly sterile environment unless you make a conscious effort to get outside and expose yourself. What often happens when people have allergies is they live in this controlled environment and then in the middle of their allergy season, the worst time they decide to go for a hike or they have to be outside to help their kids with something. And then their allergic reaction is super severe and it's really intense and you're miserable at this high extreme level. If you have time every day to get outside, breathe that air despite whatever allergens are in it, you are able to kind of allow your body to adapt to the changing conditions and it's a much easier for you to handle that change when you have to spend more time outside or it's the worst part of your season. If you're already really miserable, I don't think you should go for an hour long hike but maybe you sit on your balcony for 10 minutes. Find ways that work for you in your life to just get outside and experience things. So that when you have to spend more time, it's not as intense when you have a reaction. Finally, you might have to medicate. When we're looking for natural solutions to health problems, medication is often the last avenue we want to explore. So work with your doctor, naturopath, whoever your healthcare providers are to figure out what does and doesn't work for you. I use a nettle tea, I can't really tell in the jar but this is a weed commonly that you can harvest especially springtime now, this is the best time to harvest nettle. I dry it and then use it in teas year round. You can also make soup out of it, it's really yummy. The essential oils and the different properties of nettle really help your body deal with allergens and not react to severely. I used to be one of those people who took allergy medicine every day all the time for years and it wasn't really what I wanted to be doing with my health. I wanted my allergy medicine to be only for times where I really, really needed it so that it worked better. So all of these other things that I did in my life, changing my lifestyle using the nutty pot that really helped me wean myself off of allergy medicine and now when I have to take it because I'm at my absolute miserable, it's really impactful and the side effects of allergy medicine isn't as intense for me either. Of course, this is my perspective and you have a different body, you have a different environment, do what works for you and always consult your like medical professionals, your healthcare team if you are making drastic changes, like don't take just my word on things. Do some research and consult the people who you trust. I hope these tips have kind of inspired or hopefully helped some other people who are looking to get outside despite their allergies and I would love to see the people who have a spiritual practice rooted in the earth really be able to experience that no matter what allergies or health problems they have. In the comments below, I would love to hear if you have any natural allergy remedies, maybe you know some other herbs or teas or quick solutions, I'm all about the data, give me all the solutions. Thanks for watching and as always, may you find peace in the sacred grove.